Chapter 54: Hawthorn T. Yahweh- His Surrender and the Divine Opulence!

"Captain!" The cabin boy shouted as he ran out from the lower rooms on their ship. The boy, no more than fourteen, ran and met the Hawthorn at the head of the ship. He was gazing out into the horizon, consumed in thought. He was a big man, puffed up with hundreds of ripped muscles. He had a black overcoat on, and under it he had black pants, a yellow sash tied around his waist, and a shirt opened under the overcoat. On his head was a ruffled and aged yellow straw hat with a red band tied around the top part, near the base (hehe, allusions…).

"Sam." Hawthorn replied. A small gust of wind flew by, and the hat ruffled a bit. Using his right hand, Hawthorn pat his head, keeping the hat on his head firmly.

"Captain, sir, Hawthorn! There's a navy battle ship coming after us!" Sam, the young cabin boy, frantically cried.

"It's only natural. We just came out of the Second Earth, they've been waiting for us for a month."

"Sir! It's been two and a half years since we've entered!" Sam shouted. Hawthorn turned around, his face covered by the night.

"Two and a half years? Huh. Must have been so much fun that it only felt like a month." Hawthorn said, laughing happily. "All thirty of us must have had a blast."

"Thirty one, captain sir."

"Oh that's right. I forget that you're a crew member." Hawthorn replied. He laughed cheerfully, but soon grew serious. Something snapped. "Wait." He walked forward, pushing Sam out of the way. "Prepare for me the escape boat, Sam."

"Which one?" Sam replied, eager to hear the captain's orders. Hawthorn pointed near the side of the ship, where one boat remained. All the others had been used. Sam nodded and ran off to prepare the boat.

Hawthorn walked in and went to the lower decks, where all thirty of his crew mates remained. "Oi, captain!" Joon cried out. "Our boat travels so much faster now that we dropped off all that treasure, doesn't it?"

"Indeed!" Romulus commented. "Let's gather up more treasure!"

"What are you talking about? We got it all!" Janice shouted. "There is no more treasure!"

"Give me a week's worth of food. And a map to the island we dropped all the treasure." Hawthorn demanded. The crew suddenly grew quiet; everyone stopped their celebration. Hawthorn looked around, waiting for a reply. "SOMEONE?"

"Y-yes Hawthorn! I'll go prepare the food." Twop, the chef, answered and ran into the kitchen.

"Make it for two." Hawthorn, sending in his last minute statement, turned to return to the top of the stairs. There was an abundance of silence, and it was a bit overwhelming.

"Captain, what are you doing?" Romulus asked. Hawthorn remained silent, his back facing them all.

"I…I have no desire for piracy." Hawthorn answered. Janice stood up, grasping her sword.

"Captain! You can't be serious? We've been together for years now!" Janice's voice was cracking. Tears began to swell up. "This is all I know!"

"As of tonight," Hawthorn spoke, "This crew is disbanded. You can keep the ship. Hell, keep being pirates!" Hawthorn turned around, making eye contact with his entire crew. "I don't care! But, I am no longer your captain." His voice, like Janice, cracked. "Just…just give me the damn food and let me leave!"

Twop ran out with the food and handed him a large box filled with the food and water in bottles. Hawthorn took the box, made eye contact with each member individually, and then turned to leave. He bent his head, his straw hat covering his eyes, and walked out of the room. Something ate away at his soul, begging him to do the actions he was doing.

On the surface, Sam had already prepared a boat. Dressed in a green tunic with a green hat, boots and everything, he sat beside the boat happily and awaited Hawthorn. As he stood waiting, Hawthorn walked out from the lower deck with the box of food and nothing else. "Ready?"

"Yep! The boat's all ready!" Sam smiled. Hawthorn stood on the boat, put the box down, and then grabbed Sam. "Whoa whoa whoa, what are you doing!?" Hawthorn prepared the cut the ropes, but soon a voice echoed through the night.

"So, Yahweh. Leaving?" A man said, leaning against the wall.

"Ah, Orpheus. Came to say your goodbyes?"

"As your best friend and second mate, I think it's only right." Orpheus replied.

"So, going to stop me I presume?" Hawthorn asked. "You won't change anything." He said, holding Sam over his shoulders. Sam had been kicking and punching for a while, but it didn't even hurt Hawthorn.

"Nope. Just came to send you off." However, before anything happened, Hawthorn walked off the boat and whispered into Orpheus' ear. Once he was done, Hawthorn jumped back onto the boat. Orpheus took his spear and swiftly jabbed at all the ropes holding up the boat. Quickly, Hawthorn and Sam fell to the ocean before.

"Don't worry about the navy ship!" Hawthorn shouted back, hoisting up the sail and sailing back to where they came. "I'll take care of it." Hawthorn displayed a smile, filled with mischief. Orpheus saw him off, but soon walked back into the lower decks. Hawthorn dropped Sam onto the floor of the boat and soon they were off. As they sailed back into the Second Earth, they were confronted by the navy battle ship.

No one's fully aware, even to this day, what his powers are. Many claim he was a demon that crawled from the very depths of hell, escaping Satan's grasp. Some claim he was instead a god who came down in human form and decided to live the life of a pirate. Regardless of whomever he is, Hawthorn was the most wanted man in the world.

However, his next action after entering the Second Earth and escaping once more still baffles the Navy. Some say that it was just to show off his power again. He sails in there with a cabin boy and a weeks' worth of food, sails back out perfectly fine. He didn't need a crew to be the strongest. However, this is the part of the story many people fail to understand.

He sailed out without the cabin boy. He didn't even come back out with the same boat. He sailed back out…ON. A. RAFT. The raft was composed of tree branches tied together. It didn't even have a sail. When he made it out of the Second Earth a second time, he was starved and had very little water. When the Navy confronted him with a battle ship, instead of fighting back, he surrendered.

News of his surrender spread all over the world. Not only was his surrender important, but also news that someone had conquered the Second Earth. It was around that time too that the term "Pirate King" was coined and given to Hawthorn. Having gone where the Navy can't even go, he had proved his strength as a pirate.

He was held in a prison for a month while preparations for his execution were being planned. His place of execution? Windfall Island. Why? No one knows.

As he was led to death, the entire town followed his steps out onto the small cliff where he chose to die. There, a giant guillotine was set up. Its blade was as sharp as a diamond, blood stained too. They took him up there and set him up, laying him on the platform and setting his head in place. "Hawthorn T. Yahweh, you are charged with treason against the World Government and the Navy by committing high acts of piracy. You are dubbed as the Pirate King, and are the prime example for pirates. Do you have any last words to tell these dreamers, to prevent them from suffering the same fate?" A large man, most likely a high ranking official, asked.

Hawthorn sat silent for a moment. Listeners gathered all around his execution platform; some even gathered in boats below the small cliff. They were all eager for the words of the greatest man who has possibly ever lived, possibly the strongest. Maybe even stronger than the Hero of Time. As the crowd waited eagerly for his words, he finally opened his mouth.

"The Pirate King?" Hawthorn laughed. "I suppose this title has some honor in it." He looked up, making eye contact with the crowd. "I suppose being the Pirate King, I must have done something significant. You know what I've done?" At this time, the large man began to question what Hawthorn was about to do. The man thought Hawthorn would talk everyone out of it, but he didn't.

"I've spent the past ten years of my life gathering up treasure from all over the world. I have treasures from the South Seas, the West Seas, the East Seas, the North Seas, and even here in the Great Sea I've done my fair share of sucking everything dry. Where is that treasure now, you may ask?" Hawthorn chuckled. "I've left it all on the innermost island of the Second Earth. I call it Tesero." The crowd gasped. "I indeed conquered the Second Earth. I left my divine treasure there too." The large navy man grew worried. Was Hawthorn even trying to talk people out of it anymore? "As I speak, a friend of mine is making magic compasses and scattering them across the globe. Each compass leads to maps. Each map leads to the next island, and eventually will work your way safely into the Second Earth." The large navy man grabbed the lever, preparing to kill Hawthorn right then and there. "Do you want my treasure? It's all there! The man who finds it can be the next pirate king if he wants! You can have it all! BE THE NEXT PIRATE KING!" Hawthorn laughed wildly. Not from snapping or the fear of death.

He laughed because of joy.

The giant lever was pulled. The giant guillotine head fell, chopping the neck of Hawthorn in two. The Pirate King, the only man in existence who had conquered the Second Earth, now lay dead in front of civilians. The large man walked in front of the now decapitated body and spoke to the mass of people. "Listen, let this be a warning to all of you! Any act of piracy you commit will result in death! Understand?" The crowd fell silent. However, a man hopped up and ran to the front of the crowd.

"I'm going to be the next Pirate King!" He shouted. The large navy man's jaw dropped.

"But why? You just saw the man die before your eyes!"

"Yes, but he was smiling and laughing! Obviously, he didn't care he was going to die. He was the Pirate King!" The man shouted. "I'm going to become what that man was!"

"Yeah! Me too!" Another man, this time a man on one of the boats, shouted out. One by one, the crowd entered an uproar of people bursting out, crying that they will achieve the title 'Pirate King.' It was on that day, 30 years ago, that the dream was born. Hundreds set out to the sea within a few days, and within that year thousands were out sailing for their goal.

Their goal was dubbed as the "Divine Opulence", playing off of Hawthorn's word of calling his treasure "divine." It's all on the innermost island of the Second Earth. Without a map, it is impossible to find that island. You would die before you even made it into Second Earth. Hawthorn, however, managed to sneak his way into the Second Earth, past all the sea monsters and all the hurricanes. He successfully traveled the lands that the gods sealed off to man. He was…the king.

Fast Forward, 30 years; Cyrus just now finishes the story of the Pirate King…

"Do you understand, green hat?" Cyrus finished.

"I…I do…" Link grew a little disheartened. "That many people are out there now, trying to make it to the Second Earth?"

"Indeed. But, here's where most lose. They can never find a compass!" Cyrus laughed. "They're done before they start!"

"I see…" Link sat quietly. "Does Riost know about all of this? Is THAT what he set out for…six years ago?"

To be continued…